1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for packaging and folding a flexible material part, especially a parietal reinforcement.
2. Background of Related Art
Certain flexible material parts have to be stored flat in their protective packagings in order to avoid any alteration of their flat shape following prolonged folding or rolling up, in particular the formation of creases, then, at the point of use, have to be folded longitudinally or rolled up in such a way as to have a compact cross-sectional shape.
This is particularly the case with a parietal reinforcement designed to be fitted by means of a coelioscopy method. The reinforcement must, in fact, be arranged flat in its packaging, otherwise irreversible creases might be formed in its material, subsequently preventing the reinforcement from being placed in intimate contact with the wall to be treated, with a view to a cell colonization. At the moment of its implantation, the reinforcement must be folded for insertion into a trocar so as to be introduced into the body of the patient through a small orifice.
According to an existing method, the reinforcement is simply placed in a parallelepipedal box of suitable dimensions. This box is opened at the moment of the fitting of the reinforcement and the practitioner folds this reinforcement manually prior to inserting it into a previously fitted trocar.
This method has the drawback of involving a handling of the reinforcement and hence of generating a risk of its becoming contaminated by the gloves of the practitioner. Moreover, the reinforcement rubs against the wall of the trocar as it is inserted into the latter, which likewise risks contamination of the reinforcement if the wall of the trocar is contaminated.
French patent No. 94/12700 proposes inserting a traction suture through the reinforcement, along a crenellated or wavy path. Pulls on the ends of the suture allow a “concertina-type” folding of the reinforcement to be achieved.
This method has the advantage of avoiding direct handling of the reinforcement for achievement of the folding, of ensuring a minimum bulk size of the reinforcement prior to introduction into the trocar, and of producing a concertina-type folding, which allows the reinforcement to be unfolded as it is extracted from the trocar. On the other hand, this method still involves handlings of the reinforcement at the moment of collection from its packaging box and its introduction into the trocar. Nor does this method eliminate the risk of contamination of the reinforcement by rubbing against the wall of the trocar.
Another method likewise consists in equipping the packaging box of the reinforcement with a roll-up key connected to one of the edges of the reinforcement and with a longitudinally slit tube into which the roll-up key is placed. At the moment of fitting of the reinforcement, the key is rotated, enabling the reinforcement to be rolled up and engaged in the slit tube. This slit tube is used to introduce the reinforcement into the trocar.
This method has the advantage of eliminating all handling of the reinforcement during folding and of protecting the reinforcement from all contamination by rubbing against the wall of the trocar. On the other hand, the slit in the tube has the drawback of making the trocar non-impervious to gas when this tube is engaged through the valve provided in the proximal end of the trocar. The result is that, upon the insertion of this tube into the trocar, there is an escape of the carbon dioxide used to raise the abdominal wall of the patient in order to free the zone of implantation of the reinforcement. The latter has therefore to be introduced “blind”, which is undoubtedly a constraint. The slit tube, moreover, has a relatively large outer diameter, 12 mm in size, resulting from the use of the roll-up key. This large diameter entails the use of a trocar of corresponding inner diameter, not always suited to the surgical conditions. In addition, the reinforcement is rolled up upon itself, such that it has to be fully released from the trocar in order to be able to be opened out at the implantation site; this release is a marked constraint as compared to a concertina-type folding as mentioned above, which allows the reinforcement to be opened out as it is extracted from the trocar.
The present invention aims to eliminate precisely these drawbacks.